Voko Goes Loko

DC Sports Nexus ---- Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Washington Capitals 1, Pittsburgh Penguins 0

The Caps shut out the Penguins at home on Wednesday night at the Verizon Center handing the Guins their 6th straight loss behind the goal-tending by Tomas Vokoun who saved all 30 shots he faced. Chimera picked up a one on one fast break goal with 5 minutes left in the 1st and after that the offenses couldn't get the puck in the net.

While no goals were scored the game did not lack excitement. The rest of the game was all goalie play, blocked shots, and goalpost dings. Guys were even missing empty nets. It would have been a fun game to attend as the crowd seemed on pins and needles the whole game.

It appears that Dale Hunter has named Tomas Vokoun the permanent starting goaltender and Neuvy will get to play every once in a while. It seems to be a good call as Vokoun screws up every few games, but he is pretty solid in the net the rest.

Notes & Questions:

Ovi took a baseball swing at a puck. How is that not illegal. He almost smashed the defenders head.

You can tell me about momentum or whatever, but that fight in the first few minutes of the game just seemed dumb. These are 2 struggling teams, and although they are rivals there wasn't a rivalry feel that night due to recent play. Nothing was said in the media, they weren't revenging a previous fight, and the fight built 0 momentum due to the randomness of it. Even the announcer seemed miffed. "spontaneous fighting is accepted in the National Hockey League" I don't think you can convince me that that was necessarily.

The bald dude in the middle of the penalty boxes was interviewing the coach of the Penguins. He said they looked "fragile". What the hell is that. If I was the coach I would have punched the guy in the face.

You can hit the puck however you like. If you hit it above crossbar height or hit someone errantly then you have a different problem.Agree with other poster on bald dude. He is a blowhard attention seeking idiot in my opinion and has earned a beating.

The Origins Of This Blog: Prior to this season I had only watched a handful of hockey games. I never really liked watching hockey and I pretty much hated the NHL. Coming in I knew the basics of the game from playing NHL '94 back in the day, but wasn't really aware of how the game really worked. I didn't know half the penalties, I didn't know that a few teams existed or didn't exist, and I was easily frustrated by many things that happened in the NHL. (Icing, Trapezoids, Biscuits, Twigs, Blue Jackets, Plus/Minus, Goons...AHHHH) However, when my beloved NBA was in danger of being locked out for an entire season, that was my cue to force myself to watch something that I previously semi-despised. That brings us to today. I am now a die hard Capitals fan...I now know a bit about hockey...but I still have a long way to go.